>> steve: everybody gives bryce one dollar, that will make his father very happy. >> ali: tune in tomorrow morning. i'll be on "fox & friends" weekend. have a great weekend. >> brian: stay for the after the show show. >> steve: that's right. coming up next. martha:. martha: all right, everybody. we've got at fox news alert for you, brand new numbers. a look at the gdp of that has just come out. this is the second quarter we are looking at. it shows the economy has slowed to just 1 1/2% growth. that is below expectations. that is a very weak number. that is the slowest quarter for the united states in quite a while. good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum in "america's newsroom.". >> i'm rick folbaum in today for bill hemmer martha: many economists don't expect it to improve for the rest of the quarters

of this year. that concerns wall street and washington and no doubt everybody is aware of the election season going on. stuart varney, anchor of "varney & company" on the fox business network. stuart, look at 1.5%. what is your view on this? >> everybody is asking the same question and does this mean a election year recession? the answer is, probably not. but does it mean a sharp slowdown for the economy in this election year? and the answer is definitely yes. 1 1/2% growth rate is a very, very slim growth rate indeed. in fact if you look at the overall trend for the economy it is heading south. this is particularly bad news on the jobs front. if you are slowing down, if the economy is only creeping along at 1 1/2% growth a year, that is not a hiring economy. if you dig deeper into the numbers, you see that business investment is down. government purchases, down. profits down. and more importantly, consumption, that is what we

spend in this economy overall, that is trending much lower. confirming a sharp downtrend for the u.s. economy. martha: yeah. i see that mitt romney is about to make some statement on the gdp from his travels in london right now. we're going to get a market reaction here as well. the markets responded fairly well out of news on europe. what will they think of this both on the political front and wall street front, stuart? >> it is not as bad a report as some were expecting. on the other hand it is not so bad that ben bernanke will be tempted to chuck some money into the economy immediately. kind of a mixed bag for wall street. but for president obama, there is an outstanding question here, with the economy trending down so much, this bare 1 1/2% growth rate, will he stick with the policy raising taxes in the new year? regardless of the outcome of

the election will it be the official policy of the democrats and this administration to raise taxes in a economy slowing dramatically and where the unemployment rate is not like to go below 8% this year? martha: you wonder what the argument will be. we left them intact last time around. we're not doing that this time around because we somehow think that will help the economy. because it stayed so stagnant it makes difficult to argue both sides. >> it difficult to argue the case raising taxes on anybody in a down economy helps that economy. it is a very difficult argument to make that raising taxes creates jobs in the private sector. i'm not sure how you make that arguement but that is the argument of the moment. that separates the left from the right. the left wants to raise taxes, supposedly to reduce the deficit. the right wants tax reform, lower rates, fewer deductions, in order to stimulate the private sector. a very clean cut division and this report on gdp will

make that division even clearer. martha: indeed it will. stuart varnany, thank you so much. "varney & company" coming up on the fox business network. let's look at a little context on gdp growth over the past four years. 2008, you see that was down year, sliding close to half a percent. it got worse in 2009. that's when we had our two quarters of consecutive loss and that's what put us into the actual official recessionary status. by 2010 you had green arrows there up 2.4%, which looks like it heads toward a more healthy situation. remember for more context here, if you're in a really, healthy booming economy you're at 5, 6, even 7% growth which is what you usually see when you're starting it bounce out of a recessionary period. that's not what we're seeing here. back in 2007, take a look, 1.9%, in terms of real gdp growth. in 2004 woe were down at 3.5%.

05, 3.1%, and you can take a look how this chart has shaped up. and the number we got this morning, 1.5% growth, it is not a recessionary number as some people have been anticipating but it is not a lot of positive growth on the upside. we'll get one more number in october when we look at the next quarter gdp growth. that will come in right before the election period. rick? rick: switching gears for a minute let's talk about violent storms that caused serious damage in the northeast. check out this video of a transformer exploding behind a house in stony point new york. look at this. can you imagine living nearby one of those things? incredible towercam video of lightning striking trees in new york city as well. anna kooiman has been watching all of this live from our new york city newsroom with more. what is the very latest.

>> reporter: wild summer weather, huh, rick? tens of thousands of people in new york, new jersey, connecticut, getting ready for work in the dark this morning. one new york county remains in a state of emergency after a possible tornado hit the city of elmira. andrew cuomo declaring the emergency as teams coming in from other parts of the state to assist with power restoration. >> i seen my ac coming through the window. so i had to hold it. i saw the sky was blank because it was going by so fast. >> reporter: the heat and humidity is what spurred the storms, packed high winds, heavy rain and even hail. rick: you say one person died as a result of the storm, anna. what more can you tell us about people who were injured? >> reporter: well the storm is claiming at least one life. a 671-year-old brooklyn man, richard schwartz.

scaffolding toppling on top of him. schwartz was a prosecutor with the new york attorney general's office. rick, the national weather service will be determining whether actual tornados did indeed touch down in new york and pennsylvania. back to you. rick: anna kooiman in the newsroom. thanks. martha: we have more information on the likely storm system that spawned a tornado in central pennsylvania. this is video you start to see the funnel forming in the video before the skies unleash a real mess of a storm out there. boy the skies got dark around here as well. it was worse for folks in this area. a little further north in lewis run, they knew right away they were in for trouble. listen. >> we got a big gust of wind. i took off and touch my door or nothing. i went down on my basement. i got in the basement, i stayed there until my house rattled. i heard the. >> trees snapping and

everything. years since a child. i saw many a storm. always dodged a bullet but this one got me. but no one hurt. everything's fine. martha: that was lucky news for them. there was one fatality. police say a woman was killed by a falling tree in a rural area near the border with new york. tough, tough storm action. rick: really is. in williamsport, pennsylvania, a family narrowly avoiding a similar fate when a tree came crashing down on their truck. here is what is left of jacob smith's vehicle. fortunately he was not in the car at the time. his dad watched the whole thing unfold and here's what he had to say? >> i saw the neighbor's tree go down. i thought, wow! about that time i watched this one fall on my boy's car. rick: the line of storms knocking out power to 70,000 customers in that region. martha: let's go back to capitol hill now where there's a showdown going on over your tax dollars. it moved over to the house today.

the senate on wednesday approved an extension of the bush-era tax cuts but only for individuals making up to $200,000 a year. families up to the $250,000 mark but nobody above that level who the president has said he considers wealthy. he thinks they need to pay their fair share. that is what shaped up in the senate. house speaker john boehner told greta van susteren that he believes that deal is simply not enough. he believes taxes shouldn't go up for anybody in this kind of economy. >> the house will not do that. the house will extend all of the existing tax rates, 8% unemployment. we've got 41 months of it. this is not the time, the time to be raising taxes on american small businesses. martha: house republicans are set to pass a bill that extends the bush tax cuts for all as the speaker was talking about but he does not have high hopes for that passing on the senate side. here we are again. >> they say they hope they will take it up, you will

pass the bill next week. you have the numbers. that is clear. it will go over to the senate. you don't expect the senate to adopt your bill, do you. >> it doesn't look that way but hope springs eternal. martha: hope springs eternal. without action from congress though all the bush-era tax rates will expire at the end of the year year. that is the fiscal cliff you hear so much about. you wonder why the approval ratings for congress are so low. rick: they have to working is out. martha: good grief. a new report of the accused movie massacre gunman that claims at this point he doesn't remember anything about that horrible night. what law enforcement has to say about that. rick: also, serious new concerns for innocent civilians in syria with fears of a showdown being imminent between government troops and opposition forces in the nation's largest city. martha: the four words that one respected "wall street journal" columnist said the obama campaign is the most rattled

about. coming up. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

rick: new information now on the kidnapping of the mother of hall of fame baseball player cal ripken, jr.. look at the surveillance image from a camera. this may have been the guy that abducted the baseball star's mother at gunpoint on tuesday morning. violet ripkin was found later, tied up but okay in the back seat of her car. this is a file picture of her and her son during his playing days. they describe him as white meal, 5'10"s tall, 183 pounds, short hair and glasses. they're offering a $2,000 reward for any tips that lead to a con schick shun. martha: there is some big worry over four little words and they are these, "you didn't build that".

president obama's campaign has gone so far to run ads saying he was taken out of context. yesterday here in "america's newsroom" a obama campaign spokeswoman kept up that defense. >> as always the best antidote to false attacks and inaccurate information is the truth and that's why we've been out there, the president has been out there, just reminding people of everything he has done to fight for small businesses fight for entrepreneurs. martha: so is he accomplishing that. we have the communications advisor to crossroads generation and vice president of the winston group. juan williams, fox news political analyst. good to have you both. >> good morn. martha: she was on yesterday, kristin and claims the president has always been supportive of small business in her opinion. >> i mean i think the policies he is putting forward right now sort of tell a different story. you've got right now in the house and the senate a debate what to do with the bush tax cuts. under obama's plan taxes would go up on 900,000 small businesses.

it is all feeding a narrative that obama doesn't necessarily know how jobs are created in terms of what causes businesses to succeed. that's what is so damaging about this whole you didn't build it controversy. martha: juan, when you look at the piece by kimberly strassel in the "wall street journal" it is very thorough. and she points out the fact she thinks this whole thing, this whole message of "you didn't build that" put the obama campaign on offensive that is why chicago kicking into high gear because of defense of message. she claims at times president had moments of candor, and people cling to their guns and religion, that moment we remember. also the need to spread the wealth around. that is from the "joe the plumber" message. and also this one, "you didn't build that", when he steps off message and says what he really believers, she says it gets him into a lot of trouble. >> i think kimberly strassel is on point.

this was a political misstep by the president and why the ads are being run and see a very different kind of ad from the president, martha, where he is looking directly into the camera and stating his position in support of small business and economic development in the country. this is a departure from attacks on mitt romney, on bain, on tax returns, all that you're familiar with. where i would differ with kimberly strassel, you get into all this kind of conspiracy theory, oh, well that is what he really thinks, cling to guns or bibles and this business about didn't really, you didn't really build that, it is all suggesting contrary to the president's policies, contrary to the fact he has cut taxes for the majority of americans including small business, that now you say, oh, that is not what he really did. don't look at his policy. look what he really, we think might be thinking and at that point then you open the door to the democrats coming back and saying, that is not the case and here's the record which is what you

heard yesterday. martha: you know just to your point, she says that it feeds the suspicion that mr. obama is actively hostile to american ideals and aspirations. and you know then it brings up the whole issue of the flipside which i thought was also really interesting and i want to get your thoughts on it, kristen. she basically argues free enterprise has been battered in 2008. since the debacle in 2008 it has been given a really bad name. banks are given bad name all the way down to what we're seeing now and small businesses and people that are successful in them. do you think mitt romney's campaign is accurately seizing on that sort of sentiment. there is a moment here to grab the bull by the horns saying, business is good, banking is good, american enterprise is good and is he doing that effectively? >> i think he really started to get a lot more passionate about this issue. you see the campaign really kick it up a notch in terms of hitting this hard, going around the country, sitting down with small businessmen the i think they're realizing there is a big

difference how america perceives free enterprise and small business and what they by about wall street. by mitt romney really focusing on small business, on the fact that it is not just government that enables business to succeed. it is individuals, it is initiative they have taken and that is what allows innovation to happen. i think that is really strong message. i'm grad to see him pivot to it. martha: look at the "gallup poll", juan. this was taken in the second quarter. this was before the comment we should point out. business owners is a group the president has had a tough time with it. only 35% of those that call themselves business owners approve of the job the president is doing. we'll see how the number comes out in the second round, you expect given this discussion it will not get better. >> no. i think what you've got is a situation where, i was interested in what we just heard, that wall street and small business, you know it is an interesting moment in the american mind because wall street is not very popular. small business of course, is the heart and soul of america and remains very

popular. small business owners basically think that this president does not have their interests at heart. and the president, despite his policies and efforts to woo them has not had much success in this regard. we'll see where that goes. but the larger point here who is has an idea to stir the american economy and get things going. that is where at the end of kimberly strassel says mitt romney has to come forth his ideas for why the economy, how we can grow this economy. why it is important we continue this idea of banks being good, business being good, businessmen, business women, being central to the american dream. but we haven't heard that yet from romney. i think people are starting to say hey, you better put up. martha: juan, thank you so much. >> you're welcome. martha: very interesting piece this morning. thanks for your thoughts on it. kristen as will. >> take care. martha: you too. rick: a stunning new report we'll tell you about involving the accused movie massacre gunman, what he is apparently now saying about that deadly night that is

straight ahead. martha: at least three states have taken action to try to prevent voter fraud. with just over 100 days to go before americans choose their next president. there are serious concerns about the possibility of voter fraud and controversy over voter i.d. laws, but is the real issue more about political gain than protecting the vote? >> i believe in voting because i think it gives me a right, i think it gives me the right to be able to do things that i want to do. i think it is a terrible law to make people not be able to vote because they don't have a piece of paper say i.d. on it. i think it is awful.

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martha: we have scenes here of the makeshift memorial that has been growing and growing since the massacre

that took place at the theater in the background in aurora, colorado. the crosses were made by a man in illinois who also did the similar thing for the victims of the columbine massacre which was too close in proximity which we saw what happened last week in the theater in aurora. rick: and there are some new reports this morning claiming that the accused gunman in that terrible shooting doesn't remember anything about a shooting that left 12 people dead. 24-year-old james holmes, we saw him in court earlier this week, reportedly telling a staff member at the jail telling them he doesn't know why he is there. the worker telling the newspaper no one at the jail is buying the amnesia act. alicia acuna is live in aurora, colorado, as she has been for the very latest. what do you know about this report? >> reporter: rick, this report is in the "new york daily news" and according to the details james holmes is apparently also complaining about the food in the jail. he is also complaining about a stomach ache. in addition to telling jail

workers that he just simply doesn't know why he is at the detention facility. the jail staff who talked to the "new york daily news", they don't have any sympathy for him but during holz one hour outside solitary con pinement he wears a bulletproof vest because the detention facility is concerned other inmates may attack him. holmes is in court this monday and will face formal charges filed against him this monday, rick. rick: more funerals today, alicia report report three more funerals are set today. five people remain in critical condition in area hospitals. yesterday the body of navy officer john larimer was returned home to crystal lake, illinois. motorcyclists with illinois old guard waited for his body to arrive at o'hare international airport. the riders escorted the hearse to the funeral home. >> you expect a shoulder to

be killed in action but being killed going to a show is totally unfathomable for people. >> i'm here as a military mom. i have a friend who lost her son in afghanistan in fwrin. i understand twine. i understand holding the hand of a parent who has lost their child. >> reporter: the first-responders to last week's shooting were able to pay their respects at the growing makeshift memorial afrom the theater. there was a prayer circle that formed among the officers. and a round of applause also broke out among the crowd as a thank you to those first-responders. rick. rick: alicia acuna live for us in aurora, colorado. thanks. martha: fears of an impending massacre in syria. [gunfire] those are the scenes from aleppo where we have watch adweek of relentless bombing in syria's oldest and largest city. why this may be coming to a

frightening climax and what we all need to know about the tragedy that is unfolding. ck: plus the most powerful democrat in the house defending the white house saying that national security leaks are not a problem. that may come as a surprise though to some in the armed forces. >> i've never seen national security leaks that involved ongoing operations and put future operations at risk like we have seen. rick: what is behind that? why would that happen. >> i don't know what their motivation is. summer road trip, huh? as the hotel experts, finding you the perfect place is all we do. this summer, save up to 30%, plus get up to $100 on us. welcome to hotels.com.

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martha: fox news alert on some breaking news and we've got some new video to show you out of syria where rebels in the largest city there in aleppo, hammered by relentless government airstrikes. watch. the u.s. state department is saying that they fear is an impending massacre of even greater proportion than what we've already seen unfolding in syria as the opposition fighters and local residents are bracing in aleppo right now for a major assault. we go now to our world affairs contributor dominic di-natale live in our middle east bureau. that is the question now, is there something more larger and ominous brewing in aleppo? >> reporter: it is certainly beginning to feel like it, martha. this very much make-or-break from the rebels. the amount of troops and

government has sent in to the syria's biggest city. the united nations is saying this is a scale we haven't seen so far. the regime can not afford to lose aleppo being so important. army reinforcements were sent in on thursday. we understand helicopters have been pounding rebel positions from the east and to the west of city. the rebels are mostly entrenched in the very center as they hold onto key neighborhoods. the kind of rebels can't resist of likes of helicopter gunships and air fighters we've seen past couple days and sheer number of government troops waiting to move in. there is a moment of poise at the moment. similar, and tactics very similar the government take on damascus where the rebels have one main strong hold left in the cab tall. we heard from the former u.n. chief running the monitoring mission say the massive troops mobilization is drawing in insurgents. that could help the rebels bring in more supporters to

try to repel the regime. martha, back to you. martha: deals like we're at a pivotal point in all of this. there are reports, dominic, of a secret base in turkey. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: according to reports on reuters there is a secret base being set up just 60 miles across the border in turkey that has the backing of the qataris and saudis as well. it is being used to provide military and communication support to the rebels. the rebels would no way be able to have surprising attacks we've seen in past couple weeks without foreign intervention help. now we understand this base is in the a town which is very close to the base where the u.s. has a major air force base there as well. no indications the americans are directly involved in this at any time but we know they're taking very much hands-off approach but the cia is believed to monitor the situation in northern syria using obviously assets it has got in the region, martha. martha: that is a big question, to what extent.

thank you very much, dominic. we're all watching it very closely. rick: back to the election, 2012 now. republican leaders say the department of justice is putting politics above the law by targeting new voter i.d. laws that have been passed in several different states. house republicans accusing the doj of being more concerned with democrats winning in november than protecting the country against voter fraud. most recently the department of justice filed suit against new laws passed in texas and south carolina claiming the laws violate the voting rights act by unfairly impacting minorities. the justice department denies the suits are politically biased and based at all. bob cusack is managing editor of "the hill." first of all, bob, voter fraud, how big of a problem, do we know how big of a problem it is? is it enough to sway the upcoming election? >> talk to republicans they say there is a major problem because you see reports of voting forms going to dogs

an dead people. democrats say that is anecdotal. there is no clear proof on it. the sides are really battling over photo i.d.s. the republicans say if you are going to vote you need government issued i.d. democrats say, one in four african-americans don't have a government issued i.d. voting is right, not a privilege. but polls show that most do support that you need a photo i.d. to vote. rick: so republicans say what the department of justice is doing looking into these different laws is all about politics. as i mentioned in the inthrow, all about trying to guaranty a second term for president obama. do they have a point? >> well, rick, there is definitely no love lost between republicans on capitol hill and eric holder, the attorney general. other states to watch too that voting advocates have gone after in state lawsuits are pennsylvania and virginia. they say those new laws are unfair and those of course are battleground states. rick: a lot of these laws

have been passed by republican state legislatures. so, can't the argument also be made there might be politics in their motivations as well? passing these laws so soon before a presidential election? >> yes. the republicans say, you got to respect the law. we've seen that in washington where republicans say that president obama on immigration recently is going around federal law and going too far. so this is a vicious battle and with the presidential election so close, i mean we could be talking about this after the election if the election is anything like bush versus gore in 2000. rick: i asked but the larger problem of voter fraud. what about the idea of these laws prohibiting people who are legally able to vote actually not, you know, not being able to cast a ballot because as democrats have contended so many don't have that photo i.d. that's required? >> that's right. some older people, senior citizens, they don't have driver's license and we've

seen reports of that as well. and some of these states put the onus on the votero t say okay, you can vote but it is provisional. if you can prove later on we should count it, we'll count it. rick: we have some time, not a lot of time, but sometime before the election for those folks who don't have a photo i.d. and live in states where these laws recently have been passed maybe now is a good time to get yourself one? >> that's right. republicans say this is not complicated. you need i.d. to vote. you don't want to lose your vote someone with voter i.d. votes and there is voter fraud and that vote is basically knocked out. that is what they're trying to do. tremendous part of partisan politics there. rick: no surprise there as we approach the election in november. bob cusack managing editor of "the hill." always good to talk with you. >> thanks, rick. martha: we had some monster storms slamming eastern half of the united states yesterday afternoon. it took down tall trees in some areas. a lot of flash flooding

going on. we're hearing there is more on the way. rick: also the obama administration denying claims that recent intel leaks came from someone inside the white house. now we look into the political fallout and what these leaking mean for our national security. >> we need to do the best we can to clam down on it. sooner or later it will cost people their lives or it will cost us our national security ahhh, now that's a clean mouth.

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call hearusa ... and reconnect with your world today. rick: developing right now in "america's newsroom.". attacks in fan afghanistan are on the rise, up 11% in the recent month compared to same time last year but coalition deaths are falling as forces are withdrawing. ford motor company recalling almost 500,000 escape suvs after reports of the gas pedal getting stuck. it covers ford escapes from 2001 to 2004. a ceremony in south korea marking 59 years since

the armistice that ended the three-year korean war. u.s. officials gathering along at a village in the north korean border. because a peace treaty was ever signed the it remains a heavily for the side -- fortified zone. i heard north and south korea will compete against each other in ping-pong. martha: also the flag controversy when they raised flag from the other side. this has to do with a string of extensive intelligence leaks that some fear could be endankingering our. we asked house leader nancy pelosi if there has been a culture shift after 9/11 and that led to more intel leaks. here is how she responded. >> i don't subscribe though to the idea that there's a preponderance of leaks. i don't know that to be the case. and that's why i'm pleased

that the, there are two very respected u.s. attorneys looking into the matter. martha: all right. that brought in some attention. bring in new hampshire senator, kelly ayotte. she is a republican. she is a member of the senate armed services committee. >> thanks, martha, appreciate it. martha: you heard nancy pelosi. she says she does not subscribe to the idea that there is a preponderance of leaks . what do you think about that? >> i think it is clear nancy pelosi lives in an alternative universe becaudy hee chair of the senate intelligence committee, dianne feinstein, that these leaks are the worst that she has seen in levens years on the -- 11 years on the intelligence committee. she described it as an avalanche of leaks. you already played the clip from the commander of our special operations command, admiral mcraven, who said sooner or later these leaks will cost us lives. obviously nancy pelosi is not paying attention to those who know the most in

the intelligence committee. alternative universe for her. martha: i want to play general jack keane, who is a retired four-star on our show yesterday talking to bill. we asked him about mcraven's comments and it was very interesting his reaction to how serious this is based on mcraven's comments. let's listen to what he had to say. >> i don't know what their motivation is. you know, i read the same thing other people read and speculate about political motivation but i can't speak for that. i don't know who did the leaks and i don't know what's driving them. all i do know is i agree totally with what admiral mcraven is saying that compromises our national security and puts people's lives at risk who are out there every day. martha: mcraven is a somebody a man of few words and he does not do this kind of thing lightly. where are we with this? where does this go from here, senator? >> here's where were are. there needs to be, the attorney general of the united states has to appoint a special counsel. it is not sufficient given

the nature of these leaks and given that the indications from both "the new york times" story, the "newsweek" stories, that they have come from, close advisors to the white house and in fact one incident was reported in the situation room itself. the attorney general needs to have an independent investigation of this. not two u.s. attorneys that report to him. and i also call on the president and the vice president in the plame situation, called for independent investigations. vice president called for special counsel. we can't be hypocritical. this is too important for our country. they need to act now. we can't let this go. because we're jeopardizing our relationship with our allies and putting american lives and others that work with us at risk. martha: how likely is the scenario that you just painted? that an outside prosecutor is brought on to investigate this? the white house seems very satisfied with what they have done and to appoint two u.s. attorneys to get together and come up with a report. my guess we'll not see that

report until after the election. am i wrong about that? is there any indication it might be before? >> i don't think you're wrong at all. i think the attorney general who has been an embattled attorney general obviously knows about the house in the vote this year, blocking all information on "fast and furious." people do not have confidence this investigation reporting to him will get to the bottom of it. it is too important for our national security to let this go. i mean to have the chairwoman of the --. martha: what can you do is my question? the white house says they're dealing with it and they have an ongoing investigation. so is there any other recourse? >> well the other recourse is we've already called on the attorney general to appoint a special counsel. we've introduced legislation to call upon him to do that but also in the house i think congressional oversight, we should have congressional hearings on this. a congressional investigation. if the attorney general is going to fail to act. this is too important when lives are at stake and our national security is at stake. we can't allow this to happen again.

martha: senator ayotte, always good to talk to you. >> thank you, martha. take care. martha: you too. rick: a raging inferno in new york city. look at this fire that broke out in brooklyn. 100 families are without their homes today. what caused this massive fire that injured a number about firefighters as well. martha: plus it is torture tested and built tough but ford's f-150 pickup is getting an overhaul. it is shedding a lot of weight. why ford is designing one of its more popular trucks. or how about if it is not broke, why fix it. ♪ . [ male announcer ] if you have to take care of legal matters. legalzoom has an easy and affordable option. you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support, backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself.

rick: want to show you some pretty cool video of a volume canic eruption in

southern japan. one of the most active volcanoes in the world erupting almost every day but this eruption particularly powerful. the volcano spewing flames and ash into the area. the force sending 18 inch rocks more than a mile away. the largest eruption since 2009. martha: okay. so how about this? the red cross is sheltering some families that were chased from their homes by a raging seven-alarm fire. take a look at some of the pictures that came into our newsroom this morning. flames have engulfed a apartment building in 6 in brooklyn, new york. more than 100 families were forced to evacuate. hundreds of firefighters rushed to the scene. unbelievable. more than two dozen people were hurt is the latest report. the fire burned for hours. it eventually caused that roof to cave. the fire is under investigation at this point. the residents do not yet know when they will be able

to return home. looks like it will be quite some time. rick: that is really too bad. >> only ford hasn't front suspension for ground-grabbing traction. no wonder they're america's best-selling full-size pickups. the best built american trucks are built ford tough. rick: i like when they tell you don't do that at home. martha: really? thanks for telling us. rick: one of the most popular trucks on the road today but the new ford f-150 won't be as tough anymore. the pickup getting a major overhaul. the ford is replacing the steel body with aluminum. the goal is to improve gas nileage. the lighter metal will cut the weight of the trucks by 700 pounds. that will make the truck about 15% lighter. since 1982 the f-series ford trucks outsold every other veeblg in the country. robert gray, with the fox business network. if it isn't broke why fix it? >> reporter: this makes

headlines when it is not number one each month on the best-sellers list. they're trying to make it more fuel efficient. they're facing tougher standards. folks have been hit at the pump by higher gasoline prices. they're looking to make it lighter. more aluminum in the body, roof and doors and tail gaet. we get 8% gain in fuel savings but could cost 1500 bucks, more, rick and unclear who will pay. we know who usually ends up paying. we'll wait and see. this could happen by july 2014. rick: this won't be the first changes they made to the f-150. they made changes in the past. how is all that going? >> surprisingly well. they talk about how tough it is and being the tough ford f-150 and the like. they have been using aluminum in the hood last eight years. not a lot of people know that. they had turbocharged and direct injected v-6s in 2011. nearly half of all f-150's

sold have the ecoboost. so far the changes have gone over. one beneficiary of this change could be alcoa if you're looking for a potential stock play. they were surprisingly bullish on the outlook for automotive and aerospace on the earnings call. this could be one reason. they know automakers are moving to more aluminum and cars. rick: i think it has to be risky to potentially upset the ford faithful. is there any indication how it will fly for folks that love their f-150s? >> i think they have a tremendous ford focus group out there, no pun intended for this f-150 to get some of the guys, small business owners, people who use these in fleets in particular for hauling goods to make sure it can stand up to the rigors of the job. rick: robert gray, fox business network. >> have a good day. martha: some tough-talking big-city mayors, rahm eman all among them are clucking at the boss of chik-fil-a after he spoke his mind on

the volatile issue of gay marriage. the surprising new twist in this big story is coming up. rick: also new concerns the president's immigration policy could allow illegals to take advantage of the system. we show you what border patrol agents are saying about it and then we'll have a fair and balanced dedebate ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios

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it doesn't look risky. i mean, phil, does this look risky to you? nancy? fred? no. well it is. in a high-risk area, there's a 1-in-4 chance homes like us will flood. i'm glad i got flood insurance. fred, you should look into it. i'm a risk-taker. [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. visit floodsmart.gov/risk to learn your risk.

martha: there is a big story popping south of border much the patrol agent's union is raising red flags about the president's eupl nation policy. they are claiming they are being forced to ignore the law and to allow illegal immigrants to exploit the system. more for you on that as we join you again, brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. i'm rick folbaum. how are immigration officials

supposed to know that they can stay in school if they are not a criminal. listen. >> if they say they have a ged let them go. officers have been told that there is no burden for the alien to prove anything, even with the greatly relaxed new policies, the alien is not even required to prove that they meet any of the new criteria. martha: interesting debate then within this group of immigration enforcement officials. will washington do anything about it? molly henneberg is on this story for us. she joins us live from washington. what are you finding? >> reporter: the immigration and customs enforcement agency, ice, says it will investigate allegations of fraud and abuse but says is only hasn't funding to deport 400,000 people a year therefore, quote the agency proeu o pryor tiesess.

these pryor tees including convicted criminal aliens, people who have illegally re-entered the country after being removed and recent border prosers. some republican lawmakers say the obama administration is making the borders less secure. >> this administration has even gauged in a sustained and relentless effort to undermine the effectiveness of our immigration laws. >> reporter: particularly the union leaders and gop lawmakers are critical of the administration's policies to allow some illegal immigrants who came here as children to stay in the country. that was part of the d.r.e.a.m. act which has not passed congress but the administration implemented parts of anyway. martha: it's an intriguing question. because if you can prove that you have a g. e. d. or you don't really prove that you meet those kind of criteria as outlaid in that act the border patrol agents sort of have to sit on their hands, right? >> reporter: especially they say if an illegal claims to be a

tkraoerpl, someone who came to the country illegally as a child. they don't have to show proof union officials contend. they are just let go. border patrol agents say they could get pink-slipped if they do otherwise. >> the new policies do not provide officers with new options or in creased flexibility bin stead order officers not to enforce laws and not to take enforcement actions against specific groups with officers under threat of losing their jobs if they do so. >> reporter: ice counters that it has deported more criminal illegals in the pass three years than ever before. martha: that is explosive. rick: governor mitt romney is changing his tone when it comes to theee limb picks. the presumptive nominee in london where he'll attend tonight's opening ceremonies. he's been getting heat from the media from the u.k. this he says

security and logistical problems leading up to the games were disconcerting to him. romney now says he is absolutely convinced london is ready for the games. campaign carl cameron is in london today. i was reading some of the headlines from the british newspaper, not very favorable toward the governor, what is the latest, carl? >> reporter: blimey he's getting blistered, romney has not altered what he said from the get go in this circumstance. he reiterated yesterday and khr-r need again today that his reaction, when was solicited by an american reporter was based on reports largely from the british president obama that there had in fact be worries about security and the ability to get the necessary people in place in advance ever the olympics. but yesterday and again this morning mr. romney has been pointing out he was only describing the very concerns that he'd heard the brits had,

listen. >> there are always a few very small things that end up going not quite right in the first day or so, those get ironed out, and an when the games themselves begin and the athletes take overall the mistakes of the organizing committee, and i made a few, all of those are overwhelmed by the many things that the athletes carry out that capture the spirit of the games. >> reporter: and in fact the spirit of the games has pretty much over taken this. it was front-page news and water cooler talk all over great britain yesterday, but now the focus is the athletes and mitt romney's expressions are concern what have been dubbed gaffe's here in harsh language are becoming further and further back in the newspapers, and tomorrow mitt romney mr. leave the u.k. and head to israel and he hopes to put this behind him.

there has been headway in attempts to burnish his foreign policy position and reassure them that a change in the white house will only strengthen their security, potentially economic. rick: tell us about the big fund-raiser that mitt romney attend. >> reporter: he'll be doing them in every country. he attended one last night, there will be fundraising undertaken in israel and later when he goes to polish, perhaps not quite as much. the money involved in this is a customary thing for presidential candidates and president toss do overseas, they are looking for expatriots, terrance living abroad. just as president obama has seen some of his support and fundraising wane in the ooh night states as moderate voters have been disallusioned with his performance in the last three and a half years. the fundraising overseas could present an opportunity for mr. romney. there are a lot of folks just like in the u.s. that are disaffected the way the obama

administration has gone. rom mromney raised a little over $2 million last night, and he hopes to boost his coffers and his balloting. rick: thanks so much carl. martha: new numbers have raised concerns about our economy. the gdp represents the growth in our economy in in a period, up 1.5% was the number for the second quarter and that is the weakest pays of growth that we've seen since the third quarter of last year. we have the white house giving their response to this number as it has come out. wendell goler is at the white house th-pb he joins us. tell us what the reaction to this is. >> reporter: every month this year this figure has been a disappointment. the continued growth was welcomed here, there is not enough of it and that's been the story of the recovery not fast

enough. in a blog post they say expending the bush administration's middle class tax cuts would help. the president accuses republicans of holding them hostage. they say with little more than a week to go before congress begins its summer recess it's also important for lawmakers to act on what mr. obama calls his to do list, with tax incentives for companies to relocate companies back into this country. a veteran's job core. an expanding bill for homeowne homeowners. martha: we talked to security varney about this at the top of the last hour, and one of the things that he brought up is this issue of whether or not the white house will change its view on the bush tax cuts and whether or not they would allow them to stay in place for those over 200 and 250,000, the so-called

wealthy. any sign that this will change that? >> it's not likely. officials here insist republicans are overstating the number of small businesses that would be affected by the higher tax rate and overstating the impact of the higher tax rate itself. press secretary jay carney said yesterday the rate would return to what it was in the clinton administration when the economy did better than it did in the eight years after mr. clinton left office. here is a bit of what he had to say. >> the tax rates in 91990s were decried by the republicans at the time were in place and in law when we had the longest peacetime economic expansion in our history and when the economy created 24 million jobs. >> reporter: jay carney will be asked about that again at his briefing about an hour and a half from now. martha: no doubt. thank you so much. wendell goler at the white house. rick: listen to this one the justice department's inspector general says that the agency is ripe with nepotism showing in a

new report that several high level justice department employees wrongfully pushed family members for jobs and promotions. the investigation finding at least seven workers violated federal law by hiring or promoting relatives. a supervisor also cited for failing to report the violations. the accused workers will not face any criminal charges but could lose their jobs. martha: a popular fast food chain has been thrust into the national spotlight when its president publicly said that he was against same-sex marriage. so then you had some big-city mayor threatening to block permits for the chains restaurants in their cities. now the people coming to the chick-fil-a's defense, you won't believe who it is, we'll be coming up. rick: power full storms hraoeflg partstorms leaving parts of one state underwater. trees down, power lines down, threat of more storms in

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martha: we are back, new reaction to the controversial comments from the president of fast food chain chick-fil-a. dan kathy told a kreugs tal news organizatiokreugschristian news works said this in a rai radio interview. >> i think we're inviting god's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage. i pray god's mercy on our generation that has such a

prideful arrogant attitude to think we have the ahh today's tee to try to redefine what marriage is all about. martha: his comments sparked reaction on both sides of the issue. some particularly sharp criticism came from chicago mayor rahm emanuel, a city where chick-fil-a wants to expand and nut in two new shores. here is what he said. >> chick-fil-a values are not chicago's values, they are not respectful of our residents, neighbors and family members. if you're going to be part of the chicago community you should reflect the chicago values. martha: there you go. chick-fil-a released a statement saying this. the chick-fil-a culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and reflect regardless of their race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.

we leave the policy of same-sex marriage to the government and to the political arena let's talk with chris hahn a former aid to senator chuck schumer and fox news contributor and ford o'connell is a former mccain/palin presidential campaign adviser. thank you so much to both of you for being here. this has sparked a ton of controversy. i want to start by proving that to some extent and showing you a little snippet of the conversation that came up yesterday on the view. >> this is our country. and i believe u know what, we know chick-fil-a is a christian organization. they don't ban you from going there to eat. it's a freedom of religion. if you don't support it don't go there and support that go to kfc. for rahm emanuel to say, chicago doesn't share your values, that is not true. martha: it's really interesting how this has come down, and a lot of folks are supporting his right to say what he said and

they are arguing it seems for the market forces to sort of let themselves play out here. >> that is absolutely right, look, rahm emanuel is confusion -ts law with liberal outrage. unless chick-fil-a is engaged in the discrimination in hiring, or the discrimination of public accommodation of its customers it's going to be real hard, because all he's really doing is flapping his wings, because under the first amendment what is good for the goose is also good for the chicken. >> i want to first thank you that's the most i've ever watched of the view in my life. martha: we'll try to keep it in very limited increments like that. >> and i basically agree. listen, the bottom line is government can't say you can't come in because you believe a certain way, but government can and should enforce any discriminatory practices that may or may not be going on there and the public has the right to say, look this guy is spending the money we spend at chick-fil-a on causes we don't agree with, so we're not going

to so shop there, we are not going to eat there we'll go some where else. >> given our need for jobs in our country. frankly chick-fil-a's balance sheet and my love of waffle fries, i don't understand why rahm emanuel is not opening his arms. >> if your love for waffle fries outweighs your love for social justice by all means go eat at chick-fil-a. martha: hold on, i want you to address the jobs issues. according to one member i read 97 jobs in chicago would be brought in by the sue chick-fil-a establishments. should that not also be a concern for rahm emanuel. if you want to work there work if if you don't you shouldn't. >> i don't think any job should outweigh your willingness and belief in certain issues. if you believe strongly in marriage equality as rahm emanuel and i do then no amount

of money earned there is going to be going against this cause. the state can't just say this guy has done bad things, if he's discriminating against gays and lesbians in the employment arena or as customers then the city has a right and responsibility to step in and make sure that those descriptions are dealt with. martha: i want to show you guy a scene that played out in laguna hills, california, i haven't seen this video yet, i read about it this morning. let's take a look at it. this is a protest that happened outside of chick-fil-a establishment there. the protestors were telling customers who were coming towards this -- this restaurant that they should go elsewhere. so this is obviously stirred up a lot of discussion on this big issue. another thing i want to just mention and get your thoughts on, the mayor of boston wrote a letter to a property owner and we'll go to you first on this ford and he basically said boston would prefer if you not rent your property that you own out to this establishment. should he be in the middle of

that discussion, ford? >> absolutely not. the mayor has plenty of problems, particularly the high unemployment and other issues in boston. let the free market play out. the mayor needs to step out of this and let the market forces take place, and frankly let the owner make their decision, because the first amendment, mr. kathy's views have nothing to do with it, it's how the property owner feels. martha: that's where some of this outrage comes from. i think it's mayor, or this rahm emanuel stood up and said i personally disagree with what dan kathy said i don't think anybody would have a problem with that. when you start to step into the zone of discouraging a business opening in your city based on that belief when there is no proven discrimination, as you pointed out by employees or for employees or for customers, are they in some dangerous territory there? >> rom didn't discourage it officially there was an alderman in chicago who did. the mayor backtracked a little bit yesterday from those statements. what he did was say, look beings here is my opinion, we don't want these guys here, do with it

as you will. you'll get no help from me getting anything done for in franchise. that is fine. >> the mayor of boston is clearly trying to score points with constituents in a liberal stronghold. >> a politician trying to score points with constituents, oh, my goodness, has that ever happened everywhere? >> it's expans of free enterprise in the first amendment. >> the first amendment on both side. rahm emanuel and the mayor of boston have a right and responsibility to speak their mind on this issue as well and they should and as often as they can and as clearly as they can state that we want equality for all america. martha: you guys have been heard, and have spoken and we appreciate that. >> watch those fries, they'll kill you. martha: thank you, chris. thank you for that nutritional comment. we leave you with that. thanks, guys. rick: we're going to switch gears when we cond tell you about stunning new claims

from mass murderer james james holmes. what he asked a jailhouse worker that has attorneys shaking their heads. martha: a massive drug bust on the california coast. we'll tell you how much the coast guard got their hands-on, you do not want to miss this. we'll be right back. a legal set or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. challenge that with new olay facial hair removal duo. a two-step process that removes even coarse, stubborn facial hair gently. plenty of gain, without all that pain... with olay.

martha: 24 minutes past the hour now. let's take a look at some of the stories we've got even headlines for you. pope benedict urging a pair of cardinals to move quickly with their investigation into the leak of stolen church documents. the pope's former but butler is under house arrest and an indictment could come within the next few days. fire leveling a building and destroying a truck in california. high winds helped to spread the flames which started in a nearby field. no word on the cause of that one yet.

and the coast guard showing off a huge haul from a major drug bus off the shores of os lodge. they confiscated 8500 pounds of pot from the smuggling ship so kudos to them. they had a good week. they can relax and enjoy the weekend. rick: the man accused in the colorado massacre will be back in court on monday. james holmes is expected to be formal low charged on monday in the pass shooting that killed 12 people and injured 58 others at the midnight shoefg the new batman movie a week ago today. the 24-year-old apparently doesn't remember anything about that night. that's what he's saying. reportedly asking a jailhouse worker why he's in prison. we have a former prosecutor and defense attorney. rod whaoerl is a form d.c. homicide detective and a fox news contributor. nice to see you both. kelly, what do you make of this report? >> you know, the theory is, is he building his insanity defense

or trying to delay trial based on economy see? because you've got ab toeubl to participate in your own defense and be competent. if he pretends he doesn't know what happened then he cannot work with his attorneys and he can't be psychologically evaluated. i don't by the because of the planning that went into it. and everything we know about it so far the planning, the costumes, the ammunition, the weapons, he's walking around saying why aim here? rick: according to the reports in the daily news the folks working at the prison aren't buying it either. what do you make of this? >> let's face facts, rick, he doesn't remember now what happened last week, a week from today, as a matter of fact, and the fact of the matter is that he did remember last week exactly what it was he was trying to do. let's look eight. he didn't forget the rounds that he took to the movie theater. he didn't forget the weapons that he took there. he didn't forget his escape route that he had planned out and last but not least he also

did not forget to leave 30 bombs in his apartment so someone else could be harmed by it. maybe his memory is a little bad today, rick and i'll give him that, but a week ago today his memory was perfect and he knew exactly what he was doing. rick: from a legal standpoint we know that is one of his defense attorneys there sitting next to him in the court appearance the other day. he has a legal team that's been provided to him. could they be giving him advice to sort of say these things, with the appearance where he was sort of rolling his eyes and acting a little bit strangely in court, making those weird facial expression, could all of this be part of the defense's game plan? >> let me say this. yes and no. a attorney should never direct a client to do something like that or behave like that. what they might say is, things the court is going to consider is your demeanor, how you act, remember you're being wafpltd everythinwatched, everything is being evaluated.

your statements will be used against you. remember this is somebody who studied the brain. also based on dying his hair, everyone is suggesting that he's trying to embody the joker from the batman movies. the next thing is he's walking around saying his stomach hurbgts hhurts it didn't like the food. the joker in the movie said he had a stomachache, he implanted a bomb in his stomach. is this his attorneys saying, you're being evaluated be careful. or is he taking this insanity to the next step. >> we heard from the district attorney that this is still an on going investigation and we heard reports about a notebook that he apparently sent to a psychiatric professor, a doctor on the campus there where he was in school. where do you think, based on your experience, the investigation stands right now? what are they looking at? >> i think they are looking at everything. and i can tell you firsthand,

and i know this firsthand, rick is that the investigators are trying to investigate this case even though they have a lot of information, they have a lot of evidence, rick, in this case as we all know, they continue to get a lot more evidence. i mean just go back to the university where this guy was, they are looking at some of his writings, they are looking at some of the people that he was associated with. there is a whole lot more, rick, that is going to come out about this guy, the joker east want as he wants to call himself. whether he's part of a plan or whatever is going to be irrelevant. what will be relevant is the fact that everything he's doing right now and has done has been planned and trust me it's going to come out in court and we're going to start hearing a lot more about it on monday when the charges are read to him. rick: thank you both. nice to talk to you. >> thank you. >> okay, rick you too. martha: at 8:30 this morning we got the new gdp numbers for the second quarter. we'll show you a look at those. they are raising some worries that perhaps this economy may continue to be stuck in the mud. we've got a great business panel here that will break down the

numbers and tell us what they mean, that is coming up stphaols let th. rick: also let the games begin. the games are underway in london. are the games a boom or bust for the economy out in great britain? a live report from london straight ahead. [ male announcer ] drive a car filled with as much advanced technology as the world around it. with the available leus enform app suite, you can use opentable to make restaurant reservations. during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on se of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection.

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martha: welcome back, everyone. there are new concerns this morning that the economy is stuck in the mud because we've got the new gdp numbers for the second quarter and it is growing at an annual rate of 1.5%. that is not great territory when you're looking for growth in the u.s. economy, it's not enough to show that the economy is on its way higher, so we're joined now by two experts in this arena. brian westbury is the chief economist for the chief trust advisers. and liz claymen for the closing bell and the fox business network. good ar to have you with us. talk to me a little bit about this number, what due see there, brian? >> martha we have called the economy the plow-horse economy. it ain't going to win the preakness, obviously, but it ain't going to keel over and

die. it's sort of chugging along. this is really in my opinion disappointing, we have great new technologies, the cloud, the smashing phone, the tablet, fracking, nan technology, all of these great new things that should be creating jobs and growth, but i believe that the size of the government, the spending, the future taxes we're worried about, the healthcare act, all of these things have created uncertainty and they are holding the economy back. so we're growing way less than we should even though we're growing. martha: let me stay with brian for just a second. you said that you think this recent slow down, this number the 1.5% is a reaction to the supreme court ruling on obamacare? >> well if you go back and look, just as we went into the first and then into the second quarter the closer we got to the supreme court ruling we saw initial unemployment claims start to come up, we saw some consumption numbers and investment numbers

start to slow down, and i believe that as we got closer to that decision the uncertainty level, people are saying, why should i pull the trigger and hiring people or buying a new machine if i'm about to get a bad ruling from the supreme court? i think people waited. i think that's one of the reasons this gdp report was slow. martha: good point. we look at jobs, you want to see creation of jobs in the u.s. economy, and most economists say that under 2% you're not going to get a meaningful change in that 8.2 unemployment number we're seeing. >> the velocity of the growth. there is growth. they will point out, there is growth it's not fast enough to bring that rate down. but if brian is calling it sort of a plow-horse moving along very slowly i would call it the burrow that cakes takes you up the colorado river and the ropdz. it's going up. sometimes it stumbles. martha: the going up is not going up in a upward line.

>> in fact it is markedly slowing down. this is a genuine loss of momentum here. however, if you were to flip it around and say if this were a republican president and the republicans were looking at it how would they push this forward, they would say this is the 12th consecutive month, right, brian, 12th sec yeah tiff quarter of growth, albeit slowly. we are getting markedly close to the flatline here and everybody starts to bring up the d word, double-dip recession, we are not here yet. martha: which would be two months of negative growth. we didn't get a marker towards that in this recent number. when you look at this. if you want to be in a healthy, great economy you could be looking at numbers of 5, 6, 7% for gdp and we everee seen those numbers before. in the past we've seen them coming out of recessions, because things are so bad that the bounce off the bottom creates those kind of growth numbers. we are nowhere near that, brian. >> yeah, we should be there with the new technologies we have, i

believe, you know, the tablet, the smartphone are just as powerful as the pc was in the 1990s, we should be booming. one other point, france, for example, has grown 2% gdp, 8% unemployment for the last 40 years. martha: wow. >> they get used to it. martha: that's a good point. >> we're doing france right now. that's what we look like. martha: that's an interesting political point whether or not people are getting used to it, whether they are used to living in this kind of environment. liz quickly from you. >> the quick thought is this. we've got to get this going, so what is it? we have lower taxes. we've kept the bush tax cuts in effect for a while. some of it may reset for the upper levels depending on what they decide to push. but when they deregulated a little bit that helped the economy and they promoted the prao*euft sector, they pushed up the private sebt err and there

have been things done by the petition here such as make capital expenditure tax cuts, when you're spending money to negotiation all kinds of operations, he's done that but there needs to be more. martha: doesn't seem to have the impact they wanted to have. liz, thank you so much. brian, good to talk to you both. you can catch liz weekdays at 3:00pm eastern down to the closing bell. thanks you guys. rick: a couple of minutes ago the president signing ledge ration that sort of reaffirms america's ties with israel. let's take a listen. >> well i just wanted to welcome these outstanding leaders to the oval office. i want to in particular acknowledge congressman howard berman and senator barbara boxer, who have done outstanding work in sheparding through this

bi-partisan piece of legislation that underscores our unshakable commitment to israel. as many of you know i have made it a top priority for my administration to deepen cooperation with israel across the whole spectrum of security issues, intelligence, military, technology, and in many ways what this legislation does is bring together all the outstanding corruption that we have seen really at an unprecedented level between our two countries that under score our unshakable committment to israel's security. i'm also very khraoese pleased that this week we are going ab toeubable to announce $70 million -- $70 billion excuse me in spending for aoeupb dome. this is a program that has been

critical in terms of providing security and safety for israeli families. it is a program that has been tested, and has prevented missile strikes inside of israel. and it is a testimony to the leadership of the folks sitting here that we're going to be able to lock in that funding to assure that that program continues, and that we are standing by our friends in israel when it comes to these kinds of attacks. rick: the president in the oval hofs is signing int office is signing into law that enhances the security corruption between the u.s. and one of its strongest allies, israel. the president make these statements and signing this bill the days before his opponent in november travels to israel to meet with leaders there, mitt romney on his way there after a brief stop in london. martha: so there are new concerns today about our southern border where the patrol

agents' union says they are being forced to ignore the laws on the books and allow illegal immigrants to exploit some holes in that system. could this be a start of a new crisis? we'll have a fair & balanced debate coming up plus -- >> look at this one. >> amazing new pictures of one couple's yard literally slipping away. we'll tell you what is causing this massive sinkhole coming up. >> all of a sudden one day just out of god's wonderment there was this geyser coming out the side and probably skirting 25, 30 feet in the air. t but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company

by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you. by what's getting done. measure commitment the twenty billion doars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through.

rick: illegal immigration at the forefront as agents near our border slam the president's policy for what they say is allowing undocumented residents to take advantage of the system. julie myers wood is former head of immigration and customs

enforcement. gemu greenee a fox news contributor. i'm glad to talk to you both. julie you first. we heard from the union heads who represent these bode der agents that the policy the president has put in place is really tying their hands and preventing them from being able to do their jobs. why? >> they are concerned that there are no standards in place to prevent fraud. and historically many of these amnesty programs, with very good intentions had tons of fraud and you ended up having terrorists or transnational criminals enter our country and gain legal documentation, and the immigration agency couldn't do anything about it. i think we are seeing the border patrol and ice are very, very concerned that there are not standards in place and instead of stopping people at the border now the border patrol is going to be waiving them n. rick: gemu the president put this policy out without consulting congress, it was sort of an executive order, and now as agents are trying to implement it they are finding serious flaws here. i mean they have to basically

take the word of these undocumented ale lee and aliens. >> i think we have to look at who we are actually talking about. the young people who are eligible for this deferred action, you know, have been living in the united states for many years. they've been serving in the military, they've been attending schools, so it's not like a significant number of them would be crossing the border to begin w. and i also think it has to be made clear that this is not an amnesty program, it's far from it. it's a temporary work permit, and the reality is, deferred action has been a part of our immigration process for quite some time. actually under george w. bush, i'm the daughter of liberian immigrants. liberian immigrants had a deferred action program that worked very well for many years.

there is even a song out where liberian immigrants thank george w. bush, and that being one of those reasons. but i think we have to be, you know, really specific about the community we're talking about, these young people who are future scientists, doctors, lawyers, contributing to american society, aspiring citizens. rick: understood. >> and prioritize the prosecutions. martha: let me just say i think it's very important to focus on who we're talking about. and there are very, very many worthy individuals, and that's who the program is designed for. i think it's great that the worthy individuals could qualify for some relief. the concern is that there could be an individual who is 28 years old at the prime recruiting age for al-qaida who lies to the government, said he's been in the country since he's 7 years old and that individual just by saying he went to high school is now eligible to work in the united states. we've seen how the mexican cartels and others, they are desperate to have individuals in

the u.s. with legal documentation, and so the concern is not about the worthy kids who were brought here and a young age, the concern is about the fraud and what is the government doing to prevent fraud. congress is asking -- now the law enforcement agents are asking, i think that raises serious questions. rick: don't there need to be more strict guidelines and let these agents do nare jobs in ordetheir jobs in order to prevent the kind of fraud we're hearing about now? >> it's absolutely important to listen to the concerns of the union leaders who have brought this to the administration, but at end of the day prioritizing prosecutorial decisions and resources is a part of, you know, "law & order" 101, and that is exactly what the department of homeland security has been doing. rick: i understand -- >> deportations while at the same time allowing the program to support these aspiring

citizens. rick: i apologize we have to leave it there. but certainly not the final word on this subject, we'l have you both back again soon. >> thanks a got. martha: let's go to john *pb jon scott who has a look at what is coming up on "happening now" johnston a very busy friday ahead. karl rove joins us to react to the disappointing numbers on the economy. it is still growing but not by much. there is plenty of reason for concern. what it means to the 2012 election. plus governor romney continues his overseas treufplt i overseas trip. it has not been without controversy. is it a tempest in a tea pot? what the high temperatures could be doing to your medicine cabinet. and the latest from a deteriorating situation in syria all on "happening now." martha: we have brand-new information, chilling information on this hepatitis c scare going on at several hospitals. we'll tell you what you need to know. we're learning more about this man, he's accused of

contaminating needles and putting thousands of people at risk. for paying your friend back for lunch...from your tablet. for 26 paydays triggered with a single tap. for checking your line, then checking your portfolio. for making atms and branches appear out of thin air. simple to use websites, tools, and apps. for making your financial life a little bit easier.

martha: new reaction now after reports that thousands of people may have been infected with hepatitis c at a local hospital in new hampshire. health officials say this a traveling lab technician who worked at several hospitals across the country allegedly contaminated needles that were later used on patients. this is a frightening story, and david lee miller is in our new york bureau. he's got more on the latest on this. how many people do they think were infected, and where do they believe those people are, david? >> reporter: there is no precise figure right now how many team might have been infected, martha, that's one of the scariest thing about this story. the man who allegedly spread this disease worked in more than

a dozen hospitals in eight states over a span of five years. criminal charges have only been filed in connection with his employment in the state of new hampshire. authorities say they worked there from april 2011 through may of this year and so far at least 30 people in new hampshire have been diagnosed with hep tight advertise c, the very same strain from which is suffering. there were plans to test 3400 more patients in new hampshire. the plan has been postponed. they say the testing is too difficult to do in a short period of time. the announcement was made last night at a public meeting with the state health commissioner. people once treated at that hospital are worried and angry about the delay. >> i'm still on that list. there are people in there that are still on that list and it's not fair for them to have to sit here and wait. >> i've had bladder cancer, two bladder operations in the last six months. i don't need this type of acura sraeugs on top of it an

aggravation on top of it. and all of a sudden it could be me. >> reporter: they say some could be tested by their own physicians if they desire. the state will announce plans in the next few days for their own testing program. right now it is just in the works. martha: that is an awful situation. david lee thank you very much. rick: when we come back government regulations for your pets. coming up next. [music] see life in the best light. transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses.

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>> a heartbreaking situation in washington state where a couple spent the last week literally watching their front yard disappear. >> look at this one. >> the yard has been dropping piece by piece down a 200 foot cliff. to make matters worse, hidden under the dirt is a propane tank which is now just 12 inches from the edge. the couple says that there is nothing they can do to stop this. the fire department says that there's a natural spring that apparently has changed its course a